It’s a question I keep coming back to because, in my view, it’s the critical piece preventing many sites from achieving consistent D&B success.
We’ve got access to better data, better tech, and more available training than ever. But in many operations, blast outcomes aren’t improving. So why is that?
At last week’s ISEE Moranbah event, I asked the audience: “What does good look like to you?”
Everyone has a mental picture of what a good blast looks like but when you start digging deeper, those pictures often don’t align. Ask a group of D&B professionals, and you’ll get very different answers.
So… do we actually share the same goals?
- Is it safe production? Optimising cost across drill, blast, load, haul, and process?
- Environmental compliance and social license?
- Minimising loss, dilution or coal damage?
- Or a combination of everything with priorities that shift depending on the context?
I’ve seen some brilliant blasts in my career and some truly horrid ones. But even the “brilliant” ones can look different depending on who’s judging them:
- Was the cost above budget?
- Was fragmentation too fine or consistent resulting in dump stability issues?
- Was it complex to load or tie in, resulting in delayed bench progression?
So what is the path to ‘good’?
I am still searching for the best path and welcome your thoughts. Some of my opinions include:
- Enable people to succeed through training, support, systems, and healthy accountability.
- Establish clearly aligned goals throughout the entire process.
- What does “good” look like on your mine, for this blast?
- Communicate. Everyone needs to understand the plan and the “why” behind it.
- Review your blasts. Every time. Learn from both successes and failures.
- Commit to continuous improvement. Test changes incrementally to understand their impact and drive ongoing progress.
Written by: Mark Killip